Mercy College Professor to Participate in Seminar on Teaching Interfaith Understanding
Dobbs Ferry, New York (PRWEB) May 02, 2014 -- Mercy College is pleased to announce that Professor of Humanities and Religion Jude Aguwa has been selected from a nationwide pool of nominees to participate in a faculty seminar on the teaching of interfaith understanding. The seminar is offered by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), with support from the Henry Luce Foundation.
Twenty-five faculty members will participate in the five-day Teaching Interfaith Understanding seminar that will take place June 15–19, 2014, at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (See list of participating faculty members below.) The seminar will be led by two leading scholars, Catherine Cornille, Newton College Alumnae Chair of Western Culture, chair of the department of theology, and professor of comparative theology at Boston College, and Diana Eck, professor of comparative religion and Indian studies and Fredric Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society at Harvard University.
Aguwa said: “The Teaching Interfaith Understanding seminar will offer participants a special opportunity to learn about pedagogical developments as well as resources necessary for teaching interfaith courses. At Mercy College, teaching interfaith understanding will address some of the needs of a religiously diverse community. Such needs include promoting intercultural relations, as well as religious tolerance.”
CIC President Richard Ekman said: “Strengthening the teaching of interfaith understanding at colleges and universities is a high priority at a time when college enrollment is becoming more diverse—by religion, as well as socioeconomic factors—just as American society is becoming more diverse. Strengthening participation in American life with greater understanding of the distinctive contributions of different faiths is key to America’s future success.”
For more information, visit http://www.cic.edu/TeachingInterfaith.
Participants in the 2014 Seminar on Teaching Interfaith Understanding, Cambridge
Jude Aguwa, Mercy College (NY)
George Alcser, Marygrove College (MI)
Swasti Bhattacharyya, Buena Vista University (IA)
Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus, Wheaton College (MA)
Marcia Bunge, Gustavus Adolphus College (MN)
Jacqueline Bussie, Concordia College (MN)
Eileen Fagan, College of Mount Saint Vincent (NY)
Wakoh Shannon Hickey, Notre Dame of Maryland University
Patrick Homan, Dominican University (IL)
David Howell, Ferrum College (VA)
Andrew Irvine, Maryville College (TN)
Kathrina Jones, Wofford College (SC)
Katherine Low, Mary Baldwin College (VA)
Lyn (Linda) Miller, Earlham College (IN)
Meredith Minister, Kentucky Wesleyan College
Erica Olson-Bang, The College of New Rochelle (NY)
Peter Pettit, Muhlenberg College (PA)
Richard Rose, University of La Verne (CA)
John Starkey, Oklahoma City University (OK)
Gail Stearns, Chapman University (CA)
Kristen Urban, Mount St. Mary’s University (MD)
Hossein Varamini, Elizabethtown College (PA)
Tory Vornholt, Agnes Scott College (GA)
Rachel Wagner, Ithaca College (NY)
Carol Ziegler, Notre Dame College (OH)
The Council of Independent Colleges is an association of 744 nonprofit independent colleges and universities and higher education affiliates and organizations that has worked since 1956 to support college and university leadership, advance institutional excellence, and enhance public understanding of private higher education’s contributions to society. CIC is the major national organization that focuses on providing services to leaders of independent colleges and universities as well as conferences, seminars, and other programs that help institutions to improve educational quality, administrative and financial performance, and institutional visibility. CIC also provides support to state fundraising associations that organize programs and generate contributions for private colleges and universities. The Council is headquartered at One Dupont Circle in Washington, DC.
A Chicago-based nonprofit organization, Interfaith Youth Core’s (IFYC) mission is to make interfaith cooperation a social norm. Since its incorporation in 2002, IFYC has worked on five continents and with over 200 college and university campuses, trained thousands in the principles of interfaith leadership, and reached millions through the media. IFYC has worked with partners including the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, the White House, and the Office of Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan. Eboo Patel is the founder and president of IFYC.
About Mercy College
Founded in 1950, Mercy College is a private, not-for-profit higher education institution that offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs within five prestigious schools: Business, Education, Health and Natural Sciences, Liberal Arts and Social and Behavioral Sciences. Mercy College offers an engaging and personalized learning experience that includes the College’s revolutionary Personalized Achievement Contract (PACT) program. The Mercy College PACT is the first program of its kind and now serves as a nationally recognized model for mentoring. http://www.mercy.edu/ 877-MERCY-GO.
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Catherine Cioffi, Mercy College, +1 (914) 674-7736, [email protected]
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